So far I received postcards with windmills only from the countries with harsh winters (Netherlands and Finland), which have the sails with wooden slats. The common sails consist of a framework on which is spread a sailcloth. The miller can adjust the amount of cloth spread according to the amount of wind available and power needed. In medieval mills the sailcloth was wound in and out of a ladder type arrangement of sails. The jib sail (as it has the windmill in the image) is commonly found in Mediterranean countries, and consists of a triangle of cloth wound round a spar. In all cases the mill needs to be stopped to adjust the reefing of the sails.
The windmill in the picture is in Palmela, a municipality located in Setúbal District, about 25km south of Lisbon, best known for its wine, which has achieved international awards in several festivals like Bordeaux's, and the Queijo de Azeitão (Azeitão's cheese). There are several festivals dedicated to these products, being the most famous the Festa das Vindimas (Vines' Festival) and the Festival do Queijo, Pão e Vinho (Festival of Cheese, Bread and Wine).
About the stamp
To make the things to link each other as I like it, the stamp is part of the second group of the series depicting all the Lusitanian cheeses with POD and geographical indication (GI), issued by Correios Portugal (the first group, composed of 5 stamps, was issued on June 21, 2010). This series contain also 5 stamps:
• Serra da Estrela cheese (0.32 EUR)
• Rabaçal cheese (0.47 EUR)
• Azeitão cheese (0.68 EUR) - it's on this postcard
• Cabra Transmontano cheese (0.80 EUR)
• São Jorge cheese (1.00 EUR)
A complet description of the series you can find here (first group) and here (second group), including a wonderful description of the cheeses by Master José Quitério.
This is a post for Sunday Stamps #78 (this week theme being yellow stamps), run by Viridian from Viridian's Potcard Blog. Click on the button to visit her blog and all the other participants.
References
Windmill – Wikipedia
Palmela Municipality – Wikipedia
Portuguese Cheeses 2nd group of stamps – Postman Worldcovers
sender: Susana Vigário (direct swap)
sent from Jovim (Portugal), on 06.06.2012
The cheese looks delicious, and hearing about the festival of cheese, bread and wine.... well I am getting very hungry.
ReplyDeletethank you for joining in this week, and I hope to see you again.
I think I would quite enjoy the festival of cheese wine and bread!
ReplyDeletethe cheese shows up very nicely on the stamp, too.
Yes VioletSky, I like too such festivals. Outside of Romania I was only once at a prosciutto festival, to San Daniele del Friuli, near Udine, Italy.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to join you, Viridian, and I will do it from now on whenever I will have stamps on the theme chosen by you.
Interesting it is an old postcard and its sails are still there, it may have had a coat of paint by now:-) The cheese looks very tempting.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I can find sme cheese as nice as that on your 'yellow' stamp. The windmill on the card has a lot of character.
ReplyDeletewhat a fascinating subject for a stamp!
ReplyDelete